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 Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:18 am
Xaxis had looked upon Diacyn with mild surprise as the raptor snapped. "Temper, temper," he muttered to himself, wings fluffing out in a moments defense. He'd heard that the snow owl had a bit of a temper, a bit of an agressive streak, but he'd never witnessed it first hand. The few things he had witnessed did cause the raven to shy away from the wannabe-cool-raptor, but Xaxis did his best to stay impartial.
Iamel liked him, which pulled in Diacyn's favor. And Savius did too. Therefor, Xaxis assumed that he should like the snow owl. . . he'd just never had a chance to really meet him.
Watching carefully, Xaxis WAS pleased to see that the mouse had froze. He offered the owl congratulations on destroying the mouse. Certainly it had taken a few tries, but where there was a will, there was a way.
The raven relaxed in his chair, turning his purple eyes up on Shanuh. There was a small part of the raven that was anxious to kill again. He wanted to try, he wanted to take life again. And again. And again. It was so refreshing, so fun~! It was something Xaxis had an interest in, something that made him feel . . . good.
Besides which, it was vengence. If he had to be sick for the rest of his days, then the rest of the world would pay. Unless they were his friends. He wouldn't make them sick, not at all.
As Shanuh asked if there were any questions, the raven got struck with curiousity. If they could use their magic on mice and animals and things . . . could they use it on each other?
Opening his mouth, the raven quickly shut up as Iamel's mutter broke the silence.
Fail? How would they fail? What was this . . . failure? Not using magic? Getting something wrong too many times? Killing Kin? What? The raven didn't understand HOW they could fail. . . but then again, the raven didn't really understand what their expectations were.
"Do we fail if we don't kill enough things, Shanuh? Or if we make too many mistakes? How do we fail, exactly?" He quipped, eyebrows raising. Had he missed that part of lecture, or was he the only one who didn't know?
Shanuh looked from Iamel to Xaxis, then back again. Failure? What was this all about. Shanuh stayed quiet for a moment, contemplating how best to explain the potential results. He didn't want to scare the children, but he didn't want to lie, either.
There was a chance his wards wouldn't complete their training or their tasks. Some would, he was sure, ultimately fail. There was no beating around the bush with that.
But the children were young yet, and still knew very little of their histories OR their futures. They had yet to really find out who they were, what they once had been, and what they could potentially become. That was for later lessons, when they weren't still playing army-men and didn't have set bed times.
"IF, and I do stress if, some of you find that the life offered you ISN'T for you. If, as Iamel says, some of you fail there is no shame in that. Each and every one of you has to live your life for you, and not for some destiny you've been handed.
"What happens with failure is exactly what happens to those who do decide to embrace their fates. Life. Life will continue to go on whether or not you decide you want to help stop it. If you fail, your life will continue, and that is as simple as that."
Was it the truth? For the most part. Shanuh didn't dare go into the messy details. Not at this age. "There may be some repercussions, as in your magic may eventually fail, and you may lose contact with some of your Kin, but for the most part, your life will continue on as normal. Your life will continue to be run in whatever way you see fit."
((ooc: Posted this and didn't see Lupe's questions. I'll respond to Diacyn in the next post, when I respond to Xaxis. For now, time to get ready for work!))
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:02 am
"Just sometimes..." Iamel started, voice muffled by his squished face against the table. He didn't know how to begin that - and then he was offered a frozen mouse. One red eye popped open to peer at Diacyn, hand reaching out to take the dead rodent.
Part of it's back was sucked/gnawed on for a good, long moment before the kid tried to speak again, "It's just Shiniee had a book. An' I read it. Called the Little Engine that Could. A stupid kids book. An' I read it an' in it.. the train keeps trying to go up this mountian. And trying and trying and trying REALLY hard. In the end, he's spossed to make it to the top of the mountian and go 'I THOUGHT I could!'"
"In Shiniees book, he goes 'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can', like he did in the 'riginal one. But in this one, to the end, the train falls. An' you see it and everyone down the mountian, at the bottom, in a heap. An' it said, in big letters, 'Sometimes thinking and trying isn't enough'."
The woodpecker was quiet for a moment, gnawing once more on the frozen mouse. It helped him forget about his train of thought. "I don' wanna fail... but I don' wanna end up like that stupid train either. Try really, really hard and just... end up like that. Alone an' dead at the bottom of the mountian. You won't hate us if we fail? I won't be a train?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:11 pm
It was amazing that Shanuh could follow the child's train of thought. Trains? Failure? Heaps of twisted metal and smoke? "No, Iamel, you won't end up like the train." Well, not really.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Shanuh fell silent, contemplating the best answer. If the children did fail, there would be consequences. But, at the same rate, if they did try to manipulate their magic, if they did choose to do what needed to be done, if they picked what they were over who they had become then failure couldn't happen.
There was a promised place for every Guardian of Death, and it was only through their own choice that they could give that position up. "Each of you has a special path laid out before you. If you practice your magic, if you grow and decide that helping to balance life through death is something you want to do, and choose to do, then you can't fail. No matter how weak you may think you are, no matter what may happen in the future, unless you decide to give up what you're offered then failure isn't an option."
He glanced from child to child, a little smile crossing his lips.
"And if you decide to take a different path, if any of you believe that this isn't what you want, there's no failure there either. You won't wind up a mangled heap at the bottom of a hill, so you needn't fear that decision either.
"Everything will work out in the end, don't worry about that. You're much to young to worry!
"Now, if there aren't any more questions, you are all free to leave for the day. Keep practicing, it will only get easier the more you try. And any of you want to talk outside of class, you know where to find me."
Everything had worked out well.
The children had all succeeded in manipulating their magic, and even wound up killing. Shanuh was inordinately pleased.
((Haha - I know, quick and sudden wrap up, but feel free to hit Shanuh (or any others in shop) up with questions/concerns/etc. etc. Thanks for such a fun magic thread - sorry it took so long to finish!))
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